Buck Hits: Lineup pyramids, trade speculation and Drew Gooden photos

The Milwaukee Bucks sure are strange. Just when you think that the team is incredibly average, they go to Boston and beat the Celtics for the third time this season with Larry Sanders playing better than Kevin Garnett and Drew Gooden receiving a DNP-CD. This dunk happened. It was great. Now, it’s possible that the Celtics are also incredibly average and the Bucks just match-up very well with them. That’s reasonable, but whatever. I’m excited about the Bucks again and that’s something that defies all reason. Here’s your recap of the week that was.

Yesterday, Charles Gardner of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote about John Henson‘s transition to the NBA game. Henson has struggled to find minutes in Scott Skiles’ recent rotations, but it doesn’t seem to upset Henson too much.

“Rookie season, man,” Henson said when asked about his reduced role after three collegiate seasons and 109 game appearances at North Carolina. “All the guys said they’ve been through the same thing. So it’s something I’ve got to go through and adjust to.”‘

On Wednesday, Chris Mannix at SI.com wrote about the Bucks’ backcourt and how, in his words, they’ve had a, “solid start to the season.” Mannix cites Brandon Jennings and Monta Ellis‘ impressive PPG and the team’s 13-10 record before the Grizzlies game as reasons to be optimistic. But when Mannix talks to rival NBA scouts, they seem much less impressed by the Bucks’ start.

“I don’t see how that combination can be a consistently winning team,” the East scout said. “When you are a purely jump-shooting team, you are not going to go very far. And they don’t have a post presence they can consistently get the ball to.”

Also on Wednesday, Frank Madden of Brew Hoop wrote about the Bucks’ trade potential and whether the team will be buyers or sellers as the February trade deadline approaches. Nothing seems clear at this point, but if the Bucks continue to struggle their way out of the playoffs then look for them to sell on Ellis, Jennings and perhaps Ersan Ilyasova.

3 Comments

jennings is a quick pg that can shoot so yea but ellis really isnt purely jump shooting, he is under sized at sg yea sure, but most of his points come from getting to the paint or just around it. his 3 point shooting this year proves to the not a just a jump shooter

I’d really like to see the Bucks give
Tobias Harris and John Henson at least
16-30 minutes per game, because it would be
sad to discourage those guys if the
players that are now ahead of them
aren’t playing exceptional. Then I would
make a trade from among the rest of the guys,
including either Monta Ellis or Brandon
Jennings, for a top point guard (if that’s
possible). With an apparently mediocre and
inconsistent team at present, it seems like
it’s time to make some tough decisions, and I’d
start by choosing Harris, Henson, Sanders and
either Ellis or Jennings.